Tommy The Christmas Turtle

          When I was a child, an angel named Rundy would come to our home once or twice a week ‘to give my mother a break.’ Her name was really Mrs. Rundle but even my parents called her Rundy. Rundy’s husband worked at night and slept during the day. One Christmas Rundy’s husband gave her a pet turtle to keep her company while he worked. Rundy named her turtle Tommy. She fed Tommy and fed him and fed him and Tommy grew from a tiny 5 & 10 Cent store turtle to a full-grown turtle. Rundy told me that Tommy was about the size of a small frying pan with legs. I never saw Tommy because he lived in Rundy’s kitchen but I knew that this was remarkable and I wanted a pet turtle of my own. She told me that Tommy had grown because he was a Christmas present and that I would have to wait until Christmas if I wanted a turtle that would grow to be as big as her Tommy. Rundy liked to bake. She liked to make a cake with halved and pitted plums pressed ‘face down’ on the top. We called it her turtle cake because the plums looked like turtle shells.

          I agreed to wait and started saving my allowance to buy turtle food and the assortment of turtle accessories that were on display at the 5 & 10. I earned a weekly allowance for doing chores. My chores were to ‘set’ the dinner table and empty the waste- paper baskets. I earned $.50 Going to the 5 & 10 Cent Store on Saturday with my friends was a weekly adventure. At the 5 & 10 Cent Store the toys were set out in open bins. and we were free to roam the aisles and select whatever our allowance money could buy. Next to the toys were tanks with goldfish and turtles and one or two cages with small birds. I smile when I take my grandchildren to a Dollar Store. I have lived to see inflation firsthand.

            Christmas finally came and Santa left me an envelope with money and a note. The note said, “Use this money to buy your very own Tommy turtle.”  At the 5 & 10 there were about ten turtles to choose from. I looked them over carefully. They all looked the same. Which one should I pick? I closed my eyes and reached into the turtle tank and went home with just the right turtle. I also left with a multitude of turtle containers, pebbles and turtle food. I carefully placed Lancelot on his small plastic island. Every morning, I checked on Lance, and he was doing well. One day I noticed that he was not moving. I sprinkled in some turtle food but he still did not move.

        My mom explained that it is unusual for a 5 & 10 Cent Store turtle to live and grow and that Rundy’s turtle was a miracle because she needed company in her kitchen. With the companionship of Tommy, Rundy was not lonely during the day while her husband slept. I thought about it for a long time. I was busy all day. I had a dog, a cat and a sister. I went to school and played with friends. I wanted Lancelot to grow big like Tommy but what my mother said made sense.

         Turtles, turtles, turtles. Where am I going with this reptile nostalgia? Soon it will be Christmas.  Now that I am a grandma, every Christmas Eve I make Rundy’s turtle cake and smile. I smile because Tommy was a Christmas turtle.